Thompstone braced for Leicester Tigers run-in

Leicester Tigers may be not be finding their way over the whitewash as often as they’d have liked so far this year but Adam Thompstone admits any win will do in the race for the top four.

It perhaps speaks for the Tigers’ famous resilience that, despite only scoring 21 Aviva Premiership Rugby tries this season – joint second-fewest – they are sixth and just one point away from the top four.

You get the feeling however that Leicester can find another gear or two and after a dispiriting loss to Harlequins in their last league outing, form has been restored in the LV= Cup.

And although that’s to be put on the backburner for now, Thompstone believes that confidence can be taken into the return of Aviva Premiership Rugby.

Thompstone himself scored a try-double in victory over the Blues and he admits the fine margins will matter when the end-of-season run-in is all said and done.

“It was a very good performance against the Blues from a lot of the young boys that came in,” said the winger. "They'll take confidence.

“Obviously in the first half it wasn’t looking like we would have that sort of scoreline but the boys came out really well after half-time.

“It’s always good to cross over a couple of times. I want to be scoring tries as a winger but it is testament to the boys that have come in that I had those opportunities.

“The boys who have played in most games have been outstanding – we have only conceded three tries in our last four games and that is a great record. It’s always an opportunity to play younger boys from the coaches’ perspective.

“It’s all very bunched up and the remaining fixtures are huge for pretty much all the clubs. People are looking at Europe and the top four and there are some tough games ahead.

“Everyone has matches they need to win and it’s important for everyone. There are certainly no easy games in the Premiership, especially when people are fighting for top-four spots.”

First things first is this Friday’s game against Gloucester Rugby and with a slightly depleted squad due to England duty, Thompstone believes the new generation have shown they can be trusted.

“In the last couple of weeks we have shown we have got some really good young boys coming through,” he added. “That says a lot about the strength in depth that we have.”